Dean McGee Eye Institute

PROJECT PURPOSE

The Dean McGee Eye Institute (DMEI) is Oklahoma?s only nonprofit eye institute and serves as the community safety net for medical and surgical eye care for the entire state. Many of the services, treatments, diagnostic tests, and surgical procedures performed at DMEI are unavailable elsewhere in the region. However, DMEI?s current electronic health record (EHR) is composed of a patchwork of legacy software platforms and does not interface with Epic, the EHR system used by most large health care providers in the state. This results in patients? health care information not being available when needed, decreasing quality of care. In addition, DMEI?s outdated EHR does not allow DMEI to perform research on health care disparities related to vision and eye health for those disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ? the elderly, the poor, Blacks/African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and American Indians ? who are also at greater risk for eye diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. Lack of an EHR that interfaces with other health care providers also limits DMEI?s participation in population health studies or interventions related to these vulnerable populations. DMEI seeks ARPA funds to help underwrite the cost of acquiring and implementing Epic overcome these challenges.

EVIDENCE

According to the National Academy of Sciences in its Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow (2016), lacking an EHR is one of the major impediments ?to identifying and addressing the challenges and opportunities for public health action.? Furthermore, it states ?health informaticians should aid health care organizations?to develop shared data systems? that allow physicians to personalize patient care and for population health studies to be conducted. Increasing the proportion of doctors and hospitals accessing and exchanging information via an EHR is also part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2030 initiative.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), those over the age of 50 experience higher rates of COVID-19 related hospitalization and death compared to those under 50, as do Black, Hispanic, and American Indian persons compared to Whites. In addition, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that over half of the poor experienced a loss of income during the pandemic, which affected their food, shelter, and health status. A state-of-the-art, integrated EHR such as Epic will enable DMEI to serve these populations more effectively and efficiently, address the health disparities they suffer, and participate in research to improve their health status. This is important because, according to the National Eye Institute, these groups are at higher risk for potentially blinding diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic eye disease, and glaucoma. Treatments are available if these diseases are detected early enough, but the health disparities experienced by these groups often keep their members from receiving appropriate eye care. Thus, these vulnerable populations may become further marginalized by vision loss, which would further magnify the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from which they have already been disproportionately impacted.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

A project plan with specific milestones and a timeline will be developed, with periodic status reporting to executive management until the project is complete. DMEI?s vice president for medical informatics and technology/chief information officer and his team will be responsible for planning and reporting.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma